The Society does not endorse or support products or services.This is a guest blog post written by ostomy patient and advocate, Lois Fink.

Courage Takes Guts

After months of research and writing, my memoir to inspire and support those struggling with Crohn's disease and/or facing ostomy surgery is finally complete!

"You have Crohn's disease," the gastroenterologist pronounced, changing my life in one breath. I remember hearing those four paralyzing words said to me fifty years ago as if it was yesterday. I was seventeen and had been telling my parents and numerous doctors for nearly two years that something was terribly wrong, but no one listened.

I remember angrily asking my dad, "Why me?" He replied, "I don't know. Perhaps later in life you will meet someone and because of what you are going through now, you'll know what to say and how to help." It would take years before I fully understood the power of his words.

For the next nineteen years, Crohn's disease relentlessly scarred and narrowed my colon, leaving a trail of bowel incontinence, pain, fatigue, embarrassment and shame. Thirty years ago, ostomy surgery gave me back everything the disease had taken away: an active and rewarding life.

I wrote Courage Takes Guts as a way to share my battle with Crohn's disease, to illustrate how full and active my life is as a result of ostomy surgery and to share my father's words. This book is for patients, family members, friends, caregivers, as well as gastroenterologists, colorectal surgeons and certified wound, ostomy and continence (WOC) nurses. No one has to suffer in silence because of a bowel disease or ostomy surgery. I want to share the life lessons I learned after losing my colon, and share how Crohn's disease and ostomy surgery offered me opportunities for personal growth when I chose to change how I viewed my situation.

This memoir has been self-funded to this point. Self-publishing is exciting but not easy. Writing, illustrating and distributing isn't accomplished in a vacuum, but rather with a team approach. A strong game plan is in place. I just need the financial “chutzpah” to accomplish everything. It will be warp speed ahead (I’m a Trekkie) to the next part of this gutsy journey - getting Courage Takes Guts published, seeing it in print, seeing it on Amazon and seeing it in the hands of those struggling with Crohn's disease and/or ostomy surgery, as well as their friends, family members, caregivers, nurses and doctors.

If you wish to help me honor my father’s words of wisdom, while inspiring others, click here. Your support will help me to continue the editing and proofing process, work with an amazing graphic designer, print at least 100 books and properly publicize the memoir. If you wish to contact me, please do so via email at fink.lois@gmail.com.